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Intel Ivy Bridge Structure with Core i5-3450 Performance and OC Share

Intel officially launched Ivy Bridge end of April. The market was full of mid-end and high-end products.
CPU still only had Core i5 and Core i7. Core i3 hasnít updated to Ivy Bridge structure.
Currently Core i3, Pentium and Celeron CPUs are Sandy Bridge for better price.
I do hope Ivy Bridge structure Core i3 to launch earlier for better C/P value.

Currently, most entry Ivy Bridge is Core i5-3450. The price is for mid-end market.
Recently, Intel launched i5-3470 to replace it. The key difference is 100MHz clock.
These two models are replacing former Core i5-2400. I will share the performance difference below.

CPU is Intel Core i5-3450.
Clock is 3.1GHz and supports Turbo Boost 2.0 technology. The max clock is 3.5GHz.
Itís latest 22nm manufacturing, 3D transistor technology, physical 4 Cores and 4 threads, called 4C4T.
Itís 77W TDP and 6MB L3 Cache. You can see i5-3470 has appeared in the channel.
This article is for who has bought i5-3450 or looking forward i5-3470.

Intel 4 cores CPUs all use cooper bottom cooler. The bottom has solid-state thermal paste.
I recommend you to put more thermal paste personally to lower the temperature.

UEFI Screen
Intel Core i5-3450 default clock is 3.1GHz. I enable Turbo Boost 2.0 to boost the single core to work at 3.5GHz. 4C4T full speed can reach 3.3GHz.
If using same brand H77, the max CPU Clock Ratio is 35.
When using Z77, the max CPU Clock Ratio up to 37. Thatís why I am using Z77 here.

CPU ratio adjusts to 37, disable C1E and EIST, power saving features. You can set CPU clock at 3.7GHz.

DDR3 clock pull from 1333 to 1866, the performance increases 18.1~34.6% upon different software.
Even though Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge DDR3 bandwidth in same clock are similar,
Ivy Bridge can pull DDR3 clock higher than Sandy Bridge if memory quality is good enough.

SSD is another key tool to enhance system performance. In the past two months, itís annual price dropping time for SSD.
128 or 256GB SSD price drops around 30~50%. Itís good news for all users.
I am using CORSAIR Performance Pro 256GB which is higher capacity for easily arrangement.
Letís look at packing first. This series is official 3 years warranty by CORSAIR.

Contents
Left side is Performance Pro 256GB. Right side is 2.5Ē to 3.5Ē adaptor and screws.

CORSAIR Performance Pro sues Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 controller which is very stable in writing performance.
The random and sequential write are both over 400 MB/s. AS SSD also has very high score.
Thatís why users more prefer Marvell than SanForce.

Default mode, as enabling C1E power saving feature, the CPU clock is only 1600MHz.
OC mode, as disabling C1E, the CPU is always running at 3700MHz.
Due to CPU power saving feature, CPU clock will affect temperature.

Default, Full Speed - 61~67
Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum

OC, Full Speed - 62~70
Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum

i5-3450 is running in 3.3GHz in default mode and 3.7GHz in OC mode.
Itís only 400MHz gap and temperature is only 1~3 degrees different.
The cooler is Intel original one, so the temperature after OC is very impressive.

Power Consumption Test
Default, OS Desktop - 26W

Power Consumption Test
OC, OS Desktop - 46W

Comparing to temperature, the power consumption is affecting by C1E in default mode.
If you enable C1E in OC mode, the power consumption will drop a lot.

Default, running LinX to fully speed CPU - 75W

OC, running LinX to fully speed CPU - 80W

When i5-3450 full speed more, the power consumption is only 5W as 400MHz clock difference.
Ivy Bridge 22nm manufacturing save power more than 25~35% comparing to Sandy Bridge.

In 3DMark Vantage, HD2500 is similar to HD2000.
StreetFighter IV Benchmark improves 12% and FINAL FANTASY XIV improves 23%.
The 3D performance increasing range is not big but still helpful.
More accurate, HD2500 performance is still lower than former HD3000. User can notice by model name.
For Ivy Bridge structure, if you want to have better integrated 3D performance, you can choose HD4000 IGP.

As Intel launched latest Ivy Bridge structure this year, it includes CPU and chipset.
Entry IGP HD2500 is improved a little and high end IGP HD4000 improves a lot from HD3000.
CPU performance is 10~14% enhance from Sandy Bridge in same spec and clock.
Power consumption is much lower by 22nm implement.
CPU temperature is a little higher than Sandy Bridge, but itís still affordable for efficient OC.

Ivy Bridge has Z77, H77 and B75 chipsets to complete the market segment.
The price is lower than 6 series within few months after launching due to tough competition in MB market this year.
Z77M-D3H price is only 17USD higher than H77M-D3H.
If your budget is higher, Z77 provides you better C/P certainly.
If you donít OC, H77 is also alternative solution for you.
This article mainly focus on Intel Core i5-3450 and Micro ATX Z77 Ivy Bridge entry combo.
You can refer it if you have got i5-3450 or plan to buy i5-3470.